Apparatus for automatically feeding bulbs



1 3 P. HERRE El AL 1,959,511

APPARATUS FOR AUTOMATICALLY FEED ING BULBS 3 Sheets -Sheet 1 Filed June 22, 1931 JAN: NTU'R 5 PETER HERRE EBIJH MJ'DKLEY Tazm AT rams? Aug. 7,1934. P. HERRE EI'AL APPARATUS FOR AUTOMA'LICALLY, FEEDINGBULBS 5- ,Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed June 22, 193} Aug. 7,1934, P. HERRE ET AL APPARATUS FOR AUTOMATICALIJY FEEDING BULBS Filed June 22, 1931 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 JWENTUAE Tara A TDANEY r Patented Aug. 7, 1934 UNITED STATES PATENT; OFFICE APPARATUS FOR AUTOMATICAILY' FEEDING BULBS Peter Herre, Berlln-Ficlitenan, and Erich Mickley, Berlin-Zehlendorf, Germany, as!

more to General Electric Company, a corporation of New York Application June 22, 1931, Serial No. 545,922 In Germany July 17, 1930 6 Claims. (Cl. 49-2) rier such as a belt or a sliding track from which they are separately fed to the sealing-in machine. The principal object of our invention.

is the direct feeding of the bulbs, singly from I the supporting trays to the sealing-in machine.

This method is especially advantageous when it is important to avoid changes in the position of the bulbs during the transfer. This is more specifically true in the manufacture of lamps of small types in which the supporting stems are suspended in the bulbs, which are placed in the trays with the necks up, while 20 they are being fed to the sealing-in machine.

Various other features and advantages will appear from the detailed description of a species thereof which follows:

In the drawings, Fig. 1 is a plan view of the 25 device comprising our invention; Figs. 2 and 8 are detailed elevations of the transverse indexing wheels and their fingers; Fig. 4 is a vertical elevation of the device partially sectioned; Fig. 5 is a vertical section showing a bulb located in a hole of the bulb-supporting tray with the vertical raising tube in position below the bulb; Fig. 6- is a fragmentary elevation partially sectioned showing the longitudinal indexing means; and Fig. 7 is a plan view of a bulb-supporting tray.

Referring to Fig. 4, the bulbs 10 are transferred from the trays 11 to the holding head 12- of a sealing machine where said bulbs 10 are to be provided-with evacuating tubes 128. The

0 bulb-supporting trays 11 (Fig. 7) are provided with a number of holes 13 into which the bulbs are set.- The particular tray shown has ten rows of ten holes each The bulbs 10 are held in place in the holes during the movement of 5 the trays by means of elastic cords 14 which.

may consist of rubber or of coiled wire. The trays 11' slide longitudinally in slots 15 of the frame 16, 17.

The indexing is derived from the wheel 18 50 with pegs 19 (Figs. 1 and 4) which is given an interruptedmotion by the machine drive (not shown). The wheel 18 is fastened to the shaft 20 which is mounted in the table 21 and the gear 22 is fastened to the upper part of shaft' 5 20. The pegs 23 mounted in the gear 22 actuate the arm 24, which pivots around the pin 25 and imparts a forward movement to the rod 26 at each half revolution of the gear 22. The rod 26 moves in the guides 27 and is brought back by the action of the spring '28. During the forward movement of the rod 26, its rounded end 29 strikes one of the adjustable screws 30, depending upon whether the tray 11 is at its extreme right or left position. The screws 30 are mounted in the plate 31 which is supported 55 by the arms 32 (Figs. 1 and 6) which pivot on pin 33 mounted in the cross slide 34. The lever 35 pivoting on pin 36 mounted in cross slide 34 has at its lower end a roller 37 which is kept in contact with the plate 31 by the action of a spring 38. The upper end of the lever 35 is provided with a tooth 39 which, uponthe forward swing of the plate 31, engages the notched bar 40 which is provided on the bottom of the tray 11 and moves said tray forward the distance between two of the bulb seating holes 13. The arm 41 is also mounted on the pin 36 and has at its lower end a roller 42 which is-kept in contact with the plate 31 by the action of the spring 43. The arm 41 is connected through 90 the bar 44 to the plate 45'provided with the cam slot 46 which plate can move horizontally in the support 47. A plate 48 touching the plate 45 can move vertically in the support 47 and has at its upper end a pin 49 which engages the special notches 50 in the notched bar. 40. Plate 48 also is provided with a pin 51 which rides in the-cam slot 46. Upon the forward movement of plate 31 the upper end of lever 41 moves to the right (Fig. 6) and moves the plate 45 ahead in the support 47. Due to the action of the cam solt 46 on the pin 51, the

plate 48 is moved downward and the pin 49 is removed from the notch 50, which allows the lever 35 to move the tray 11 forward as hereinbefore explained. In order to be sure that the forward tray 11, which is pushed ahead by the rear tray, does not move ahead more than the distance between two holes, said trays are provided with notches -91 (Fig. 7) into which the end of a plunger 92 slips, said notches be-' ing spaced equally to holes 13. The plunger is held against the trays 11 by a spring 93 and is provided in a housing 94 mounted on the 1 or by automatic means (not shown). To obtain the lateral or transverse movement of thetrays 11, the frame 16. 17 which supports the t I10 11 is mounted on the cross slide 34 whichmoves along the guide rail 52. This motion is derived from the screw 53 which is mounted in the supdisk 58 is also provided on the shaft 57am supports along half its periphery the pegs '59 which.

project up through the semi-annulus 60. The end of the lever 61 projects into the path of the pegs 59 between the disk 58 and the semi-annulus 60. Said lever 61 is pivotally mounted on the bracket 62 and is connected through the slot 64 and the pin 65 to the rod 66 which moves in the supports 67 and is held in the back position by the compression spring 68 located between the forward support 67 and a collar 69 on the bar 66. The bar' 66 is provided at itsend with a finger 70 (Fig. 2) which engages the indexing wheel 71. Said wheel 71 is provided on a shaft 72 which is mounted in a support 73. A gear 74, also mounted on shaft 72, meshes with a gear 75 provided on the screw 53.

The end of a lever 76 also projects into the path of the pegs 59 at their. upper ends. Said lever 76 is pivotally mounted on the stud 77 and engages the rod 78 through a slot 79 and a pin 80. The rod 78 moves in the supports 81 and is held in the up position-of Fig. 1 by the action of a compression spring .82, located between the back support 81 and a collar 83 on the rod 78. Said rod '18 is provided with a finger 84 (Fig. 3) which engages the indexing wheel 85 which is provided on a shaft 86 mounted in the support 87. A gear 88. also provided on the shaft 86, meshes with a gear 89 provided at the end of the screw 53.

Through half a revolution of the plate 58, the

pegs 59 will engage the lever 61 and cause the screw 53 to turn in one direction, thereby indexing the trays 11 laterally the distance between two holes 13. At the end of the half revolution when the trays are in an extreme lateral 60 position, one of the pegs 23 of gear 22 will engage the lever 24 and, as hereinbefore explained, will cause the trays 11 to be indexed longitudinally the distance between twoholes 13. Thenthe page 59 will engage the level-.76 and cause the screw 53 to turn in the opposite direction and index transversely acrom the row of holes 13. to the other extreme transverse position. The empty trays 11 drop oil. the end of the guiding frame 16, 17 into a box 90. a

r 1 The bulbs 10 are lifted vertically from the trays 11 by a transfer bar or, more specifically. a tube (Fig. 4) which is guided through .a bushing 96. The said tube is reciprocated by mechanism comprising a gear segment97 which- 1 mes rack teeth. 98 provided on the tube or bar 95. A counter pressure roller 99 is arranged opposite the segment 97. The. tube 95 is shaped at. the top to'conform to the contour of the bulb 10 (Fig. 5) and is provided at the bottom with a hose 100 (Fig. 4) which is connected to a vacuum source (not shown). so that the bulb 10 will be held in position during its upward travel. An electromagnet 101 is provided above the bushing 96 so that the tube 95. which is iii made entirely or partly of iromis magnetized.

The magnetized tube 95 (Fig. 5) i then attracts the lead wires 102, provided in the known manner with a nickel-iron core, and pulls them down against the neck of the bulb 10, thereby holding the supporting stem 103 with its filament 104 and. lead wires 102 in place during the lifting motion.

At the top position of the tube 95 which moves up and down through the holes 13 of the tray' '11. after each indexing of said tray, the bulb 10 is grasped by a transferring mechanism and de--. livered to the sealing machine as hereinafter." explained. V

A bracket 105 is fastened to the sid of the table 21 and is provided on the top with a guide 106 for a slider 107. The slider is provided on'the bottom with rack teeth 108 which engage a gear 109 which is driven from the rack 110 through -the gear 111 and the bevel gear drives 112 and.

113.. A bar 114 is. connected through a link 115 to the slider 107 and passes through a second slider 116 which can slide on the slider 107. Slider 116 is elastically coupled to the bar 114- by a spring 117 located between said slider 116) and a collar 118 on said bar 114. The clamping jaws 119 are pivotally mounted on the bars 120 which are mounted on the slider 116. The jaws 119 are pulled together by a spring 121 and are provided with blocks 122.

The Jaws 119 with their mechanism moveradially to the sealing machine and in a plane 7 which passes through the holding head 12 of the sealing machine when it is in ition to receive a bulb and through the lifting tube 95. When the bulb 10 arrives in position over the holding head 12 the slider 116 with the jaws 119 is arrested by a stop 123, but the slider 107 continues forward with the bar 114. The conical end 124 of the bar 114 moves between the blocks 122, thereby opening the jaws 119 and allowing the bulb 10 to drop into the holding head 12. The bar 114 with slider 107 is then stopped due to a springy catch 125, provided on slider 116, slipping into the groove 126 in the bar 114. The slider 116 then moves back with the slider 107 due to the fact that they are coupled by thecatch 125, until said slider 116 strikes the stop 127 which occurs as the clamps 119 come into position over the lifting tube 95. The slider 107 then moves back somewhat farther disengaging the catch from the groove 126, and

process, the extreme left-hand hole of the front row of the tray 11 (Fig. 7) is located over the vertical lifting bar or tube 95 (Fig. 4). The bar 951 rises vertically through the hole in the tray 11, lifting the bulb 10 which is held tight to the bar by suction, and delivers said bulb to the opened jaws 119. An electromagnet 101 magnetizes the bar 95 which then attracts the leads, 102 (Fig. 5) and holds the filament mount in place in the bulb. The clamp Jaws 119 close around the bulb and release said bulb from the bar 95 which moves down below-the tray 11. Then the jaws 119 with the transferring mechanism move radially toward the holding head 12 of the sealing-in machine, where they are opened to allow the bulb to drop into said'holding head. While the Jaws 119 move back to their original of the lever 35 (Fig. 6). on the notched, bar 40 mounted on the bottom of the tray 11. This places the extreme right-hand hole of the second row of bulbs over the lifting bar-'95, which lifts the bulb out of the tray. The tray then indexes to the right across the row of bulbs, until the extreme left-hand position is reached, where the trays are again indexed forward.

' After all the bulbs in a tray have been delivered,

the next tray will enter into position due to the action of the lever 35, while the empty tray is pushed ahead until it drops into the box 90.

What we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is,-

1. In an apparatus for feeding bulbs and similar articles, the combination of a substantially horizontally disposed frame, a movable" tray supported by said frame and having rows of holes therein'for receiving said articles, a substantially vertically disposed transfer bar, means for reciprocating said bar, means engaging said tray to advance it intermittently v and. longitudinally of said frame to cause each of the holes of a row to register in succession with the path of movement of said bar and means for intermittently movingsaid frame in a transverse direction to align each of said rows in succession with said path of movement.

2. In an apparatus of the class described, the combination of a frame comprising a slide, a

rail supporting said slide and means'for intermitten ly moving said slide along said rail comprising a screw threaded in a portion of said extending longitudinally thereof and means for nected to said tubular member.

slide, and means for rotating said scre'w alternately in opposite directions comprising indexing wheels, each acting on an end of said screw, switch bars each engaging one of said wheels and a rotating disk having members engaging said switch bars.

3. In-an apparatus of the class. described, the combination of a frame,-a movable tray supported by said frame and having a notched bar intermittently advancing said tray in said frame comprising a pivotally mounted lever and a blocking pin normally engaging a notch in said bar, means for rocking said lever to cause it to engage a notch in said bar and to advance said tray and means for simultaneously withdrawing said blocking pin.

' 4. In an apparatus of the class described, the combination with a tray movably supported and having holes therein for receiving bulbs and similar articles, a tubular transfer member mounted to be reciprocated through said holes successively and vacuum producing means con- 5. In an apparatus of the class described, the combination with a tray movably supported and having holes therein for receiving bulbs and similar articles comprising protruding lead wires of magnetic material, a transfer'bar mounted to be reciprocated through said holes successively 106 and means for magnetizing said-bar.

6. In an apparatus. of the class described, the combinationof a movable tray having holes therein for receiving bulbs and similar articles, means for intermittently advancing said tray, 110 a transfer bar mounted for reciprocation through a hole in said tray and a transfer mechanism for removing an article carried by said bar comprising gripping jaws and' means for swinging said jaws from'said bar to the desired point of delivcry of said article.

' PETER HERRE.

ERICH MICKLEY. 

